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Swanage Folk Festival
Back from Swanage Folk Festival. Tired, but it was good.
Spent the Saturday dancing with Quayside Cloggies (still having to avoid a few of the hoop dances that trigger the tennis elbow, but much better overall that I used to be). Took the side's collecting tin during the procession and was pleasantly surprised by a quiet gentleman who put in a £20 note.
Number one rule of collecting - don't rush.
Also handed out flyers for Quayside Cloggies to any lady around my age who claimed to live near Winton (where Cloggies practice).
Sunday was a more relaxed day overall. Anonymous weren't dancing as we fell below critical numbers when one of our side got a girlfriend in Cornwall (very nice lady) and is now spending weekends in Cornwall.
Henry and I went down and handed out some Anonymous flyers and enjoyed watching some of the other sides dancing.
We were both impressed by 'Cogs and Wheels'.
They're an unusual side to be impressed by. They're a women's side, and they're all older than I am (which is saying quite a bit). They dance Cotswold (ignore the tatter jackets in the clip below), and I don't normally think much of women's Cotswold sides ( though I have seen some very good young female dancers in mixed sides.)
What Cogs and Wheels have done is to subtly adapt the dances for the older generation. Instead of doing leaps and kicks badly, they've taken those out of the dances and concentrated on the bits that they can do. Their hanky work is lovely. Crisp moves, all in time, all emphasising the arm movements - which is what hanky movements are supposed to do. Their footwork is similar, simple (and with rest breaks build into the choreography), but perfectly in unison.
Their stick dances have complex sticking, but with the emphasis on timing rather than violence. Also very well done.
I've chosen to show a hanky dance as good hanky work is a lot rarer than it should be. Half the trick seems to be to keep the hankies still if you're not using them to emphasise a move.
The clip below from sometime last year shows this rather well. It's a bit shaky with the camera at the start, but does steady down.
It was also interesting to watch the two Boderline morrises dancing side by side. (Two groups independently came up with the same name - one has now rebranded itself as 'Neon Borderline'.
Borderline dance in Green tatter jackets and Neon Borderline dance in a wide range of neon pink and yellow outfits. Neon Borderline look great until they start dancing. The wildly differing costumes mean that you can't see the wood for the trees. You tend to look at individual dancers rather than the overall pattern. When looking at the Green Borderline side, I was far more aware of the actual dance.
Neon Borderline are flashier, but I got more pleasure from watching Borderline (the latter also have some very crisp dance movements).
Spent the Saturday dancing with Quayside Cloggies (still having to avoid a few of the hoop dances that trigger the tennis elbow, but much better overall that I used to be). Took the side's collecting tin during the procession and was pleasantly surprised by a quiet gentleman who put in a £20 note.
Number one rule of collecting - don't rush.
Also handed out flyers for Quayside Cloggies to any lady around my age who claimed to live near Winton (where Cloggies practice).
Sunday was a more relaxed day overall. Anonymous weren't dancing as we fell below critical numbers when one of our side got a girlfriend in Cornwall (very nice lady) and is now spending weekends in Cornwall.
Henry and I went down and handed out some Anonymous flyers and enjoyed watching some of the other sides dancing.
We were both impressed by 'Cogs and Wheels'.
They're an unusual side to be impressed by. They're a women's side, and they're all older than I am (which is saying quite a bit). They dance Cotswold (ignore the tatter jackets in the clip below), and I don't normally think much of women's Cotswold sides ( though I have seen some very good young female dancers in mixed sides.)
What Cogs and Wheels have done is to subtly adapt the dances for the older generation. Instead of doing leaps and kicks badly, they've taken those out of the dances and concentrated on the bits that they can do. Their hanky work is lovely. Crisp moves, all in time, all emphasising the arm movements - which is what hanky movements are supposed to do. Their footwork is similar, simple (and with rest breaks build into the choreography), but perfectly in unison.
Their stick dances have complex sticking, but with the emphasis on timing rather than violence. Also very well done.
I've chosen to show a hanky dance as good hanky work is a lot rarer than it should be. Half the trick seems to be to keep the hankies still if you're not using them to emphasise a move.
The clip below from sometime last year shows this rather well. It's a bit shaky with the camera at the start, but does steady down.
It was also interesting to watch the two Boderline morrises dancing side by side. (Two groups independently came up with the same name - one has now rebranded itself as 'Neon Borderline'.
Borderline dance in Green tatter jackets and Neon Borderline dance in a wide range of neon pink and yellow outfits. Neon Borderline look great until they start dancing. The wildly differing costumes mean that you can't see the wood for the trees. You tend to look at individual dancers rather than the overall pattern. When looking at the Green Borderline side, I was far more aware of the actual dance.
Neon Borderline are flashier, but I got more pleasure from watching Borderline (the latter also have some very crisp dance movements).
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Never let anyone tell you that you're too old to do something!
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Pity your Anonymmous are not complete. I wish I could try with you!!!:-)
Thank you for sharing!